Health care ought to wait

Published: Friday, December 18, 2009 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 8:26 p.m.

To The Editor: "It's the economy, stupid." Remember when that was a campaign slogan of Clinton back in the early '90s? The administration and Congress would be well served to heed that message.

The Senate is presently engaged in debate over the revamping of our nation's health care system …which represents one sixth of our economy and will most certainly cost a trillion dollars.

The House passed cap and trade legislation; and Mr. Obama plans his trip to Copenhagen to attend a climate change conference.

Meanwhile, we have 10.2 percent unemployment, which is less than it will be next month. I can't be the only one who believes that something is very, very wrong. Jerry Seinfeld would think we were back in Bizzaroworld.

Let's get people back to work so they can buy their own health insurance; take care of our troops who are trying to wage a war on global terrorism (not quite single-handedly, but almost); and put the health care reformation on the back burner where it belongs.

Any new health care system won't look very appealing to someone who doesn't have a job and can't feed his or her family or pay the mortgage. Remember. It's the economy, stupid!

John Knapp

Hendersonville

The tax scheme known as warming

To The Editor: Is global warming real? That depends on your point of reference. Start with temperatures during the "Little Ice Age" 500 years ago, and "yes," the earth is warming. Start at 1998 and "no," the earth is actually cooling. And so the temperature cycling has gone for thousands of years, without any help from mankind.

Greenhouse gases are only one of many factors that influence global temperatures. Of all the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is a very small contributor. Of all CO2 put into the atmosphere, mankind is a very, very small source. Data suggests that man-made CO2 contributes only about 0.17 percent to overall "greenhouse" warming.

Global temperature is impacted by numerous effects including aerosols, solar cycles, surface reflections, variation in cloud cover, El Nino, La Nina, orbital eccentricities, etc. Mankind's contribution is so small that even if we completely stopped all CO2 emissions we would have no influence on the global temperature. .

Man-made CO2 has been trumped up to be the villain because, of all the things that impact climate, only CO2 emissions can be used to extract more taxes and impose more controls on U.S. businesses and citizens. Follow the money trail. It's a scam. Wake up America.

Merry Guy

Hendersonville

Shuler attacks are backed up

To The Editor: To the handful of writers who have asked me to stop "lying" about Congressman Shuler I would point out that from the TVA cover-up, to his flip-flops on what he has told voters about his health care vote, to the current "terrorist trials" issue, every charge has been corroborated by the Times-News and/or Citizen-Times.

As for the current issue, the GOP asked whether Shuler would sign a "discharge petition" in favor of a bill to keep the 9/11 terrorists from receiving a civilian trial.

Instead of taking a position, as the Times-News reported, he "will not reveal his stand on whether the 9/11 terrorists should be tried in New York".

The falsehood this time was when he first dodged the Times-News's question. His reply was "He doesn't sign discharge petitions. He doesn't support that process."

Oops.

When the Times-News called me for a response, I did a search of Shuler's history on signing such petitions and his reply was false; he had signed one just a year ago.

When asked about this "discrepancy" by the Times-News, his defense was that the petition he signed was an issue that was very important to him -- unlike the trying of terrorists in civilian courts apparently.

<p>To The Editor: "It's the economy, stupid." Remember when that was a campaign slogan of Clinton back in the early '90s? The administration and Congress would be well served to heed that message.</p><p>The Senate is presently engaged in debate over the revamping of our nation's health care system which represents one sixth of our economy and will most certainly cost a trillion dollars.</p><p>The House passed cap and trade legislation; and Mr. Obama plans his trip to Copenhagen to attend a climate change conference.</p><p>Meanwhile, we have 10.2 percent unemployment, which is less than it will be next month. I can't be the only one who believes that something is very, very wrong. Jerry Seinfeld would think we were back in Bizzaroworld.</p><p>Let's get people back to work so they can buy their own health insurance; take care of our troops who are trying to wage a war on global terrorism (not quite single-handedly, but almost); and put the health care reformation on the back burner where it belongs.</p><p>Any new health care system won't look very appealing to someone who doesn't have a job and can't feed his or her family or pay the mortgage. Remember. It's the economy, stupid!</p><p><em>John Knapp</p><p>Hendersonville</p><h3>The tax scheme known as warming</h3>
<p>To The Editor: Is global warming real? That depends on your point of reference. Start with temperatures during the "Little Ice Age" 500 years ago, and "yes," the earth is warming. Start at 1998 and "no," the earth is actually cooling. And so the temperature cycling has gone for thousands of years, without any help from mankind.</p><p>Greenhouse gases are only one of many factors that influence global temperatures. Of all the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is a very small contributor. Of all CO2 put into the atmosphere, mankind is a very, very small source. Data suggests that man-made CO2 contributes only about 0.17 percent to overall "greenhouse" warming.</p><p>Global temperature is impacted by numerous effects including aerosols, solar cycles, surface reflections, variation in cloud cover, El Nino, La Nina, orbital eccentricities, etc. Mankind's contribution is so small that even if we completely stopped all CO2 emissions we would have no influence on the global temperature. .</p><p>Man-made CO2 has been trumped up to be the villain because, of all the things that impact climate, only CO2 emissions can be used to extract more taxes and impose more controls on U.S. businesses and citizens. Follow the money trail. It's a scam. Wake up America.</p><p><em>Merry Guy</p><p>Hendersonville</p><h3>Shuler attacks are backed up</h3>
<p>To The Editor: To the handful of writers who have asked me to stop "lying" about Congressman Shuler I would point out that from the TVA cover-up, to his flip-flops on what he has told voters about his health care vote, to the current "terrorist trials" issue, every charge has been corroborated by the Times-News and/or Citizen-Times.</p><p>As for the current issue, the GOP asked whether Shuler would sign a "discharge petition" in favor of a bill to keep the 9/11 terrorists from receiving a civilian trial.</p><p>Instead of taking a position, as the Times-News reported, he "will not reveal his stand on whether the 9/11 terrorists should be tried in New York".</p><p>The falsehood this time was when he first dodged the Times-News's question. His reply was "He doesn't sign discharge petitions. He doesn't support that process."</p><p>Oops.</p><p>When the Times-News called me for a response, I did a search of Shuler's history on signing such petitions and his reply was false; he had signed one just a year ago.</p><p>When asked about this "discrepancy" by the Times-News, his defense was that the petition he signed was an issue that was very important to him -- unlike the trying of terrorists in civilian courts apparently.</p><p><em>Robert Danos</p><p>Hendersonville</p>